Well good evening everyone and welcome to my sixtieth episode. Tonight, I want to bring you something a little bit different. I’m going to attempt to lay out the basic message of the Bible. I want to paint you a picture that allows you to have a basic understanding of the entire grand narrative. But before I do that, I want to issue a few caveats. First, this basic message is in no way a functional equivalent to studying the Scriptures yourself. God’s Word has unfathomable depths – and reading it for yourself will be good for your soul.
Second, some parts of Scripture are symbolic and metaphorical. This means that the truth or principle emerges out of the symbol or metaphor. The truth is not the symbol or metaphor itself. For example, when Jesus calls himself “the door” he is not claiming to be an actual door made of wood or plastic. Rather, he is illustrating the truth that the only way to the Father is through him. But even the parts of Scripture that are meant to be taken literally need some attention. When we use the term “literal” we invariably restrict the meaning to include only that level of reality which we have the capacity to understand. For example, our five senses – taste, smell, listen, touch, and see. But there’s more to reality than we are capable of perceiving and describing. That’s why Paul could not find words to express his vision of heaven.
The problem is, human beings are not designed to have a good grasp on the totality of metaphysical reality. If you want to test this, try pointing to the fourth dimension. You cannot do it because you are bound to three dimensions. But our mathematical equations suggest as many as ten dimensions in the universe. Before you doubt this, understand that you invest your life in the reliability of these same mathematics every time you get on an airplane. So the point is, don’t make the mistake of assuming the events in the Bible happened in the narrow sense of “literal” that you are capable of comprehending. The nature of reality is utterly mysterious to us, and God is the greatest mystery of all.
So now that we have that preamble taken care of, let’s get started. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The Bible is not specific about when this creation event happened. So if anyone tells you they know how old creation is – they don’t. But the Bible does say that God was already here when he created it. This means that God himself is preexists everything. He is not created. He has always existed and will always exist. He also never changes. He is a Triune God. This means that he is three distinct persons in one – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God exists outside of time. This means he exists in the past, present, and future simultaneously. He is omniscient, which means he knows everything. He is omnipresent, which means he is in all places at once. He is omnipotent, which means he is all-powerful. God never lies. God never sins. God never tempts anyone to sin. Each person in the Trinity shares agape with each other, which means unconditional love. This is the same kind of love that God has for you.
So we know that God created the universe and everything in it. What happened next? He created the very first human beings – Adam and Eve. He placed Adam and Eve in a perfect world called the Garden of Eden. There they enjoyed perfect loving fellowship with each other and with God. The only condition God placed on them was that they do not eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. One day, Eve was tempted by the serpent and she took the fruit – giving some to Adam as well. Both of them ate. In that moment their perfect trust with God was violated – as well as their perfect love. Humanity and all of creation fell away from God.
God knew that if he gave human beings free will, they would rebel against him and drag all of creation into sin. But God also knew that there is no love without free will – and he determined that the love humanity could share with each other and with him was worth the cost. And it was a cost that he himself intended to pay so we wouldn’t have to.
From Adam and Eve, the human race multiplied and turned completely evil in word, thought, and deed. So God destroyed them with a cataclysmic flood – saving only Noah, his family, and the animals. Humanity is repopulated after Noah and his family leave the ark. Next God establishes a covenant with a man named Abraham. He tells Abraham that he will make him into a nation and that nation will be God’s chosen people. These people became the twelve tribes of Israel.
Egypt enslaved Israel and so God called on Moses to free them. Moses led Israel out of Egypt in what is called the Exodus. As he was taking them toward their homeland, Moses convenes with God on the summit of Mount Sinai. God gives Moses a set of commandments and laws to help the Israelites live in obedience to God’s ways. After 40 years of struggling and complaining in the wilderness, the Israelites finally arrived at the promised land. The people worshiped God until things went well with them, then they turned from God and lived their own rebellious ways. Their pride caused them to turn from God. Turning from God caused them to crash and realize their need for God. Then they built back up and became proud again. They followed this pattern from generation to generation. This was the period of the Judges.
Samuel was Israel’s greatest judge, and he told them that God was the only king they ever needed. But the Israelites wanted a king like the other nations had – a king who they could see and who could rule over them. So God gave them Saul as their first king. Saul started out well, but the power corrupted him and he stopped following God’s ways. Because Saul turned away from God, Samuel told him that God has rejected him as a king. Samuel searched for the next king, who would be the shepherd David. David did well and God blessed Israel for his loyalty. But David was not a perfect person. He had an affair with a married woman named Bathsheba, and he murdered her husband to try and cover it up. David was punished for this sin and he repented of it – recommitting himself in his love for God. David was known as the poet-king, because he wrote many songs to God called Psalms.
David passed his crown to his son Solomon. Solomon became the richest king in Israel’s history. Solomon wrote many proverbs of wisdom and he also built the temple to serve as a permanent tabernacle to remind the people of God’s continuous presence. Solomon had many wives, and he allowed his wives to lead him astray into worshiping false gods. Then a civil war erupted, dividing the nation into a northern kingdom called Israel and a southern kingdom called Judah. It wouldn’t take long for both of these kingdoms to be led by corrupt kings who paid no regard to God and his ways. During this great apostasy, God sent prophets to warn the people of Israel to turn back to him. He warned them of the dark consequences of continuing down the path they were on. The Israelites refused to listen. The Assyrian Empire conquered Israel in 722 B.C. The Babylonian Empire conquered Judah in 586 B.C. God’s people were forcibly removed from the promised land and many were enslaved once again. The temple was destroyed. This period was called the Exile.
Then the prophet Daniel was sent to the city of Babylon. Babylon outlawed all prayer that was not directed to the king. The authorities threw Daniel into a cave of hungry lions because he refused to cease praying to God. The lions were docile to God and would not touch Daniel – he emerged the next day unharmed. By this moment in history, the Israelites were scattered but God was still watching over them. He gave them hope through the words of the prophet Jeremiah, who promised them a new covenant. Sixty years later, this hope was realized when Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon and released the Jews back to their homeland.
A new temple was built under the leadership of Ezra. Reunited, the people of Israel rejoiced. But the elders grieved in remembrance of what was lost. The prophets Malachi and Isaiah pointed to the coming of a new king. A king whose rule would last forever. A king who would bring perfect justice and perfect peace. A Messiah. The Jewish people began their wait, and God would not speak through a prophet again for 400 years.
Then, a baby was born to a virgin woman named Mary. The baby was named Jesus. Preparing the way for Jesus, John the Baptist said, “One is coming after me the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. As Jesus began his ministry, he gathered 12 men to be his disciples. The teaching and miracles performed by Jesus made the religious elite very uncomfortable – so they hatched a plot to kill him. Jesus was betrayed into the hands of the Romans by one of his disciples – Judas Iscariot. The Roman prefect Pontius Pilate gave Jesus over to the Sanhedrin who crucified him. The crucifixion is the moment when Christ took the punishment for the sins of all the world onto himself. He took the judgment we all deserved. He paid the price we could not afford to pay. Jesus’ followers lost heart and abandoned him.
Jesus’ body was placed in a tomb and on the third day was resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit. This was the seminal moment in the grand biblical narrative. Christ had conquered death, and his resurrection brought hope to all the world. Jesus revealed himself to many of his followers after his resurrection. Then he ascended into heaven and gave us the Holy Spirit to be our counselor, our comforter, and our advocate. The apostles, Paul in particular, went on to preach the gospel all throughout the known world – enumerating the proper ways to worship and to live as a Christian. The mark of a mature Christian is someone who is filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When it comes to living as a Christian, love is the master value. To the Corinthian church Paul points out that only three things in this life will last forever – faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.
Truth and love is the basic message of the Bible. It started with perfect love in the Garden. Ever since the fall, humanity has been called to accept the truth of their condition and their broken relationship with God. Jesus said the greatest form of love is when one lays his life down for his friends. And God has done this for us. He has done this for you. Christ sacrificed himself so that when we pass on into eternity we may once again walk in perfect love with him.
At the beginning of this episode, I encouraged you to read the Scriptures for yourself. Now I encourage you to seek God for yourself. Bow your head in prayer and ask God to forgive you for your sins. Commit yourself to Jesus Christ and understand that God is love. We do many things in this life. We grind and struggle to figure things out and to make the best of an imperfect world. But in the final analysis, all that really matters is whether or not you choose to let him into your heart. All that really matters is whether or not you choose to love.
If you find this content valuable, feel free to share it and to use it in your own studies. If you’d like to support this podcast, you can do so at www.patreon.com/michaelhbaun. There is a link in the description. Your generosity goes a long way to promoting the growth of this enterprise and the cause of free speech. Thank you all for joining me this evening, and I will see you in the next episode.
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